Van der Plaetsen is euro decathlon champion (Yahoo Sports)
Less than two years after an anti-doping test showed he had cancer, Thomas van der Plaetsen is heading to the Olympics – as European decathlon champion. First the Belgian had to suffer through the ignominy of being tainted a drug cheat, while the test in October 2014 in fact showed he had testicular cancer. On Thursday he put all of this behind him and hung on in the concluding 1,500 meters to win the European title with 8,218 points ahead of Czech Adam Helcelet with 8,157.